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Rarely does a performer debut as a fully formed artist. The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival instantly secured the group's reputation – and that of its hyper charismatic frontman – as the most incendiary in rock and roll and made a legend of Hendrix.

No rapper had ever headlined a night at Glastonbury and Jay Z’s booking was subject to open opposition. Mocking the haters, he opened his set with covers of Oasis and Amy Winehouse songs. Jay Z proved the festival wasn’t just about “the tradition of guitar music” as the crowd of 150,000 chanted along with the entire set and established that hip hop wasn’t a side-bar to anything.

Radiohead had released the masterwork OK Computer less than two weeks before appearing at Glastonbury the Glastonbury Festival in 1997. With an eye on their new material, Radiohead minted a masterful performance that immediately elevated them into the realm of the greatest bands in U.K. history.

Amy Winehouse was already a household name in her native England when she performed her first U.S. showcase gigs at the 2007 South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas. Winehouse more than lived up to her hype and garnered rave reviews for being over-the-top in every way –from her quirky retro look to her extraordinary vocal maturity and musical prowess.

Canadian DJ Deadmau5 transformed Lollapalooza 2011 into the dance party of the summer. Using the power of music to forge a bond between the DJ and every audience member, and between the audience and the environment, Deadmau5 seemingly harnessed a powerful rainstorm as backdrop to his aural experiments. One reviewer described watching the audience bob in time to the music during Deadmau5’s set as “like watching the world’s finest puppeteer at work.”

Daft Punk’s first appearance at Coachella, in 2006, was a sea change for Electronic Dance Music. The French duo played a perfectly executed set synched to a mind-blowing multimedia presentation surrounded by their now legendary “pyramid” art installation. Daft Punk’s show raised the bar for EDM production values, challenging other artists – across all genres – to greater feats of experimentation and audience engagement.

Rumors swirled around the 1992 Reading Festival that Kurt Cobain’s reported ill-health would force Nirvana to bail on their headlining gig. Cobain, clad in a hospital gown and ridiculous wig, was pushed onto the stage in a wheelchair and faked a dramatic swoon before leading the band through a blistering, brilliant set. Reading 1992 sealed Nirvana’s legacy as the most important new band of the decade.

Backed by fellow Rock and Roll Hall of fame inductees Booker T. & the MG’s, Otis Redding put on a devastating set of soul music, some of the finest of its day. Redding was riding a wave of success at the time, but he was known primarily to African-American audiences. Monterey put him in front of the largest white audience of his career to date, and the crowd went crazy. Redding died just six months later, and the performance we have now captured on the Monterey Pop film is one of the high water marks of his career.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will open its latest featured exhibit, Common Ground: The Music Festival Experience on Friday, April 25, 2014. The exhibition will be an engaging look at the music festival as more than just an outdoor concert, but as a community experience. Whether it‘s forging human bonds, building a sense of community, providing broad exposure for musical artists or as one of the most important economic engines of the music industry, the story of the music festival is inextricably linked with music’s powerful cultural impact around the globe. Visit Common Ground: The Music ...

The Rock Hall Blog

This is where we will post insights from Rock Hall staff and guest writers about exhibits, events, concerts and more with an emphasis on lesser known facets of the Rock Hall. Consider this your backstage pass.